Now—and you will have to stretch your mind a little on this one—imagine that you are one of the most sought after football recruits in the country.

One night, Nick Saban, the head coach of the BCS national champion Alabama Crimson Tide, is in your living room. Neighbors are congregating outside your house to snap a picture of the three-time BCS-winning coach that will find its way to Facebook and Twitter before you can say “Roll Tide.” Saban is telling you how he needs you. You see your future—a national championship, TV exposure, the NFL.

You’re ready to commit.

Two days later, you’re flying cross country for an official visit to USC, where Lane Kiffin greets you and rolls out the proverbial red carpet. Kiffin is hip; he’s L.A. The Trojans have a deep tradition of winning titles, Heisman trophies and sending players to the NFL. Plus, you’ve watched Entourage, you know L.A. is the place to be and be seen.

That’s a dilemma facing nearly every top high school football player these days. If you’re uncommitted, schools are coming after you; if you’re committed, schools are coming after you.

The phrase “off the board” does not exist until the letters of intent have worked their way through the fax machines.

Until then, schools will continue their pursuit of flipping recruits.

“It happens more every year, no doubt about it,” Rivals national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell told Sporting News. “It started a long time ago, but it wasn’t as publicized. … I personally think it’s a lot of the kids wanting attention and enjoying the recruiting process. Having committed early and seeing all these other guys get written about, going on visits, they feel like they’re missing out on something. So it really makes them feel like—maybe I should take another visit or maybe I should listen to this coach or that coach even though I’m committed. That’s where the danger starts. You take a visit; you’re wowed for 48 hours. They roll out the red carpet and the confusion starts.”

We’ve already seen it happen to some of the nation’s top recruits:

—QB Gunner Kiel: Follow closely. He surprised everyone by committing to Indiana in July. In October he reopened his recruitment. In December, he committed to LSU and planned to enroll in January. But he didn’t show in Baton Rouge, instead he enrolled at Notre Dame.

—RB T.J. Yeldon: The Daphne, Ala., back committed to Auburn in June and flipped to rival Alabama in December. In a statement, he said: “I have a lot of respect for Auburn, the coaches, and all of the people there, but at the end of the day I feel like the University of Alabama is the best situation and fit for me and my family. I am 100 percent confident with my final decision.” That he was. He enrolled early and is officially an Alabama student.

—DB Shaq Thompson: One of the nation’s top defensive backs committed to Cal twice before switching to Washington this week, where former Cal defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi was hired in January. Late Tuesday afternoon, receiver Jordan Payton, followed Thompson from Cal to Washington.

Saban was criticized in recent years when it was reported that he did not want a recruit to take other visits after committing to the Tide. Saban, like every other college football coach, knows the power of getting a kid on your campus.

“There’s something called a visit high,” Farrell says. “… You come off that 48 hours of being treated like a king and being promised the world, and being told you’re going to be this and that and being compared to recent players who were superstars at that school and you come home and you’re like, ‘that’s the place for me, I’m in love with it.’

“And then it wears off after a week or so, most times, but sometimes that high sticks. It is really dangerous. Kids take visits for fun. If I’m a high school coach and I know a kid is taking a visit for fun, I know he’s just going to confuse himself and make the process even harder.”

Harder for the kids and harder for the schools recruiting them and trying to hold onto them. Just ask Oregon State coach Mike Riley.

“It becomes an issue. It’s very obvious that everybody is fair game until signing day,” Riley told The Oregonian. “That’s just the nature of the world that we’re in. Even at this late date, we were just talking about one of our recruits who continues to get a ton of calls from this one school in particular. I don’t think we’re going to lose the kid, but it doesn’t end until signing day.”